God made me a cannibal to deal with problems like you.
Unrelatedly, it is weird how many of my friends have never been in love. I wonder if this is a self-selecting group. Vicious, sarcastic remark about a thing I don't fancy discussing any more goes here.
I was going to do a Q&A to help me with the world-building and charactertistion for this year's NaNo but then I remembered that LJ is kind of a wasteland these days and that it is unlikely to generate much in the way of Q if I ask you, especially on a Sunday. And then I had a brief Bernard Black fit and decided that in lieu of COWRITING IT WITH MYSELF (since I'm already doing that), I'd Q&A THIS WITH MYSELF. Asking my own damn questions, fuck yeah.
The most important question first: are there going to be any sex scenes in this thing?
No. Well, yes. Technically. I think there's some flashback stuff with John and El Alacran, maybe with Ferdinand. Mostly because I want some scenes with a man getting fucked by a giant scorpion. TBH I just like saying that phrase.
Flashbacks tho.
Shut up, it doesn't fit in the main narrative and I'm not leaving it out.
Why?
Padding. Also, you're not my real dad, fuck you.
Isn't that part of your complaint with Iron Council?
My complaint with that book is that it's boring and not going anywhere and I don't care about the characters and China is molesting a thesaurus unnecessarily hard AND the enormous flashback section which is not providing me with information I needed or wanted. Waiting for this thing to develop a plot. Also, I have faith that I am, if nothing else, better than China Mieville at his absolute worst.
Big Claim. Okay, do you actually know what deals Radigis and Hana are cutting?
No, and I'm going to need to work on that. It will involve knowing more about the current affairs of Albion-of-the-Britons, and who knows/owes whom. Perhaps a relational diagram will help with that. I do at least know what both of their goals and driving forces are.
And those are?
Hana wants to see what's left of her family safe: ultimately she would like revenge for what happened but she knows that's impossible - the Emir who replaced her husband is dead and his successor was a boy at the time that the usurping took place. Radigis is a mix of visionary democractic ideals (opening open the choosing of the governance/witegamot/prefects to more of the populace) and self-serving greed for power (if he can pull this off - and he's sure he can, he will be afforded high office and influence for the ingenuity and "devotion to Albion", he will be remembered).
While we're on the subject, actual good writers know what their characters want.
I can at least in most instances give you that, except Hajar doesn't know and has been trying hard not to focus on it, and I don't know what Qingting wants yet. Other characters have wants that change as the story progresses, so in the interests of avoiding spoilers I will go with the initial desires: John wants a life of peace, security, no nightmares, and time alone with El Alacran. He wants no further aggression/cold war between their species, and possibly for his family to understand that what they did ruined him and killed his affection for them. El Alacran wants a cessation of hostilities both between humans and arthropods and also between the factions in the Gated Continent, an end to the trade in neuter mantids as slaves (as a member of the only faction who deals with the female mantids he is not impressed by their use of the neuters as revenue streams, but has no problem with the sacrificial males), but most of all he wants to take John to the beautiful and exciting places that he has seen on his assignments, and to do so in the secure knowledge that it won't lead to their arrest or death. Ferdinand similarly, unable to conceive of a world in which they are accepted or tolerated, craves seclusion with Hugo and an unhurried retirement, which may be difficult in the face of Hugo's love of the limelight and apparent obsession with remaining on the wireless forever. Ben is filled with a burning desire to overthrow the cuurrent hierarchy of Method and install Empiricism at its rightful place at the zenith, to acquire funding and respectability and research students for the non-occult sciences, to advance the understanding of non-occult medicine, and to exchange documents with other non-occultists in other countries; he would also very much like for his pesky sexual desires to fuck off. El Miriapodo is devoted to the protection, promotion, and overall victory of his faction, he intends to reproduce with a suitably powerful female once he's found one, and is partially alarmed by the prospect of being a redundant military leader should victory occur in his lifetime. Aerdis wants to fly again, but as that is probably impossible is willing to settle for exploring the ground world a bit further; she is itchy for adventure and for change.
So have you typed up your defence for when someone inevitably moans about the geography and the Implications of giant bugs in parts of the world?
No, because frankly I don't think anyone who is likely to have a fit is going to bother reading this. I am almost certain that one of the benefits of being Unpopular On The Internets is that people cannot be bothered to read your stuff to slather their interpretation on top of it. Also my defence is basically "because fuck you" anyway.
That's not going to go over well. You know you're not allowed to make fun of anyone's weird hobbies any more?
You're not my real daaaaaaaaaad I do what I want. GTFO.
I was going to do a Q&A to help me with the world-building and charactertistion for this year's NaNo but then I remembered that LJ is kind of a wasteland these days and that it is unlikely to generate much in the way of Q if I ask you, especially on a Sunday. And then I had a brief Bernard Black fit and decided that in lieu of COWRITING IT WITH MYSELF (since I'm already doing that), I'd Q&A THIS WITH MYSELF. Asking my own damn questions, fuck yeah.
The most important question first: are there going to be any sex scenes in this thing?
No. Well, yes. Technically. I think there's some flashback stuff with John and El Alacran, maybe with Ferdinand. Mostly because I want some scenes with a man getting fucked by a giant scorpion. TBH I just like saying that phrase.
Flashbacks tho.
Shut up, it doesn't fit in the main narrative and I'm not leaving it out.
Why?
Padding. Also, you're not my real dad, fuck you.
Isn't that part of your complaint with Iron Council?
My complaint with that book is that it's boring and not going anywhere and I don't care about the characters and China is molesting a thesaurus unnecessarily hard AND the enormous flashback section which is not providing me with information I needed or wanted. Waiting for this thing to develop a plot. Also, I have faith that I am, if nothing else, better than China Mieville at his absolute worst.
Big Claim. Okay, do you actually know what deals Radigis and Hana are cutting?
No, and I'm going to need to work on that. It will involve knowing more about the current affairs of Albion-of-the-Britons, and who knows/owes whom. Perhaps a relational diagram will help with that. I do at least know what both of their goals and driving forces are.
And those are?
Hana wants to see what's left of her family safe: ultimately she would like revenge for what happened but she knows that's impossible - the Emir who replaced her husband is dead and his successor was a boy at the time that the usurping took place. Radigis is a mix of visionary democractic ideals (opening open the choosing of the governance/witegamot/prefects to more of the populace) and self-serving greed for power (if he can pull this off - and he's sure he can, he will be afforded high office and influence for the ingenuity and "devotion to Albion", he will be remembered).
While we're on the subject, actual good writers know what their characters want.
I can at least in most instances give you that, except Hajar doesn't know and has been trying hard not to focus on it, and I don't know what Qingting wants yet. Other characters have wants that change as the story progresses, so in the interests of avoiding spoilers I will go with the initial desires: John wants a life of peace, security, no nightmares, and time alone with El Alacran. He wants no further aggression/cold war between their species, and possibly for his family to understand that what they did ruined him and killed his affection for them. El Alacran wants a cessation of hostilities both between humans and arthropods and also between the factions in the Gated Continent, an end to the trade in neuter mantids as slaves (as a member of the only faction who deals with the female mantids he is not impressed by their use of the neuters as revenue streams, but has no problem with the sacrificial males), but most of all he wants to take John to the beautiful and exciting places that he has seen on his assignments, and to do so in the secure knowledge that it won't lead to their arrest or death. Ferdinand similarly, unable to conceive of a world in which they are accepted or tolerated, craves seclusion with Hugo and an unhurried retirement, which may be difficult in the face of Hugo's love of the limelight and apparent obsession with remaining on the wireless forever. Ben is filled with a burning desire to overthrow the cuurrent hierarchy of Method and install Empiricism at its rightful place at the zenith, to acquire funding and respectability and research students for the non-occult sciences, to advance the understanding of non-occult medicine, and to exchange documents with other non-occultists in other countries; he would also very much like for his pesky sexual desires to fuck off. El Miriapodo is devoted to the protection, promotion, and overall victory of his faction, he intends to reproduce with a suitably powerful female once he's found one, and is partially alarmed by the prospect of being a redundant military leader should victory occur in his lifetime. Aerdis wants to fly again, but as that is probably impossible is willing to settle for exploring the ground world a bit further; she is itchy for adventure and for change.
So have you typed up your defence for when someone inevitably moans about the geography and the Implications of giant bugs in parts of the world?
No, because frankly I don't think anyone who is likely to have a fit is going to bother reading this. I am almost certain that one of the benefits of being Unpopular On The Internets is that people cannot be bothered to read your stuff to slather their interpretation on top of it. Also my defence is basically "because fuck you" anyway.
That's not going to go over well. You know you're not allowed to make fun of anyone's weird hobbies any more?
You're not my real daaaaaaaaaad I do what I want. GTFO.